I know my first comment here is truly coming from the Peanut Gallery. By the looks of the trees in the pictures, a grand for the takedowns is robbery. If you can take them down with your limited skills and no rigging, they were set-up for a rip-off. Was the grand for takedown only or cleanup too?
Now, on to learning. You look like you got in way over your head but got lucky. Seeing all of the rip cuts and brush piled back in the tree shows that you have little or no control of the branches as you cut them. I'll bet the everyone of the branches hit tips-first and then the butts jumped back into the tree. That is a good recipe for either getting hurt or causing damage.
You can't rely on an internet education in treework. If you're a good student you'll learn a lot from reading, studying and taking the tests in The Tree Climbers Companion. Then read the ANSI Z133 standards. Then get the video series, The Art and Science of Practical Rigging. Watch the vids and study the book. If you think the series is expensive, think about how much a good school-based education costs. You'll be paying about the equivalent of a three or four credit class. Much less than what a chainsaw costs and pocket change compared to what a trip to the emergency room or the morgue would cost.
Stick with trimming for a while, none of us want to hear about any more deaths in the industry that we all love and are proud of being participants.
Tom
